Students from Michigan State University improved Wikipedia’s content this summer by contributing information related to female filmmakers and authors of color. As part of Terrion Williamson’s course “Growing up girl: Coming of age in women’s literature and film,” students contributed two new articles and help expand 15. Highlights include the article on Caucasia, a novel … Continued
We’ve seen growing interest in writing Wikipedia articles about historic and contemporary figures. We’ve shared great stories from courses that contribute biographies of women artists, American and Canadian historical figures, journalists, and women virologists. Editing biographies on Wikipedia has special rules and approaches. There are unique expectations when writing about historical and living people. That’s why … Continued
In Jyana S. Browne’s Modern and Contemporary Japanese Theatre course at the University of Washington, students study Japanese playwrights who actively sought social change through public engagement. Those students engage the public on their own, as well, by contributing information on those playwrights to Wikipedia. Student editors have created well-researched articles about award-winning playwrights Yoji … Continued
Though Wikipedia’s content in the science is often well-represented, it isn’t always well-presented. Many articles could benefit from smoother, more accessible writing, or through illustrations that make the concept visually clear. In Dr. Kermit Murray’s Mass Spectrometry course, students at Louisiana State University contributed information about that analytical chemistry technique to Wikipedia. Students are typically … Continued
The WikiConference USA presentation proposal and scholarship deadlines are fast approaching! Do you have an experience, a problem, a solution, or a question you’d like answered? Have a theory or a new strategy for improving the community, outreach, technological infrastructure, or connections to institutions like museums, libraries, or academia? Then WikiConference USA is your chance … Continued
This week, the Wiki Education Foundation hosted an open house and poster session for about 60 OpenSym conference attendees. During the poster session, people mingled, traded ideas, and learned about research and practices from a variety of participants and attendees. Our Summer Fellow, Andrew Lih, and Wikipedia Content Expert Adam Hyland, also attended the conference. … Continued
Highlights The Wiki Education Foundation released its annual plan for fiscal year 2015–16. The plan reports on the first year of our work, and looks ahead to what we’ll set out to achieve in our next fiscal year (July 1 through June 30). Our biggest goals include scaling the impact of our Classroom Program, the … Continued
“Did You Know… that the Rotherwas Room, once used as a private dining parlor for nobles in 17th-century England and for public poetry readings by Robert Frost, is now open to visitors in the Mead Art Museum?” Students from Nicola Courtright’s Amherst College Rotherwas Fellows Summer 2015 course proposed that question as a “Did You … Continued
Researchers and practitioners of open collaboration will flock to San Francisco from August 19 to 21. They’ll be in town for OpenSym, a conference dedicated to open collaborative projects, such as Wikipedia. For the Wiki Education Foundation, this is right in our neighborhood. That’s not only because we’re also focused on open access collaboration in classrooms. … Continued
